Strawberry Cake
Strawberries are starting to show their gorgeous red selves, and the Payaso and I couldn’t be happier! We have a small strawberry patch in the garden, and I absolutely love when the Payaso comes into the house with a freshly picked mound of those glorious red gems. Every year I worry that the strawberries are going to get smaller given the fact that we don’t pay them much attention, but they never disappoint. This morning I was drinking coffee and reading my newest edition of Time magazine on the deck when I saw the Payaso head to the gardens with his picking basket in hand.
“I’m going to pick some raspberries; there are SOOO many this year,” he yells as he heads down the steps with Moo following close behind him.
“Thank you, amor,” I holler back without looking up from my magazine. “Don’t let Moo eat any!”
About 20 minutes goes by, and the Payaso returns with the fruit of his labor (haha – get it!?). I look down at the basket of red deliciousness, and offer a perplexed look to the Payaso.
“I thought you were picking raspberries,” I inquire.
“Huh!?,” responds the Payaso.
With a smile I say, “These are strawberries.”
“Yep,” he says as he walks into the house. Oh, how I love that man.
Now remember, rhubarb season generally is over around the 4th of July, so we’ve got about a week before we say goodbye to the garden sourpuss. Rhubarb and strawberries go very well together in pies, tarts, cookies, jellies and other types of sugary goodness. We’ve given away a fair amount of our rhubarb this season, and I think our rhubarb adventures are over for the year (I like to keep about a third of the stalks intact for the plant to develop energy for next season). Rather than combine the strawberries with rhubarb, I decided to make a super simple, fresh, and not-too-sweet cake from the strawberries. This recipe was adapted from Giada De Laurentiis, and is absolutely perfect for a warm summer’s treat.
Strawberry Cake
Ingredients:
- 2 room temperature eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup melted butter (let cool slightly)
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 pound strawberries; hulled and sliced in half
- Zest of 1 lemon
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Spray a 9-inch spring form pan with nonstick cooking spray; line the bottom with parchment paper (you can also use a 9-inch round cake pan just liberally use cooking spray).
- Combine the eggs and 1 cup of the sugar in a medium bowl and beat on high speed with a handheld or stand mixer until thick, pale and doubled in size, about 4 minutes (see picture below).
- Add the yogurt, melted butter, lemon zest and vanilla to the batter; beat for another minute.
5. Add the flour, baking powder and salt; mix until just combined.
6. *Note: the batter will be very thick.* Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly to the edges. Arrange half the sliced berries on top. Pour the remaining batter over the berries; spread evenly once again. Top decoratively with the strawberry halves and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar (you can use granulated sugar if you don’t have turbinado (I used granulated sugar)).
7. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 – 45 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. If using a cake pan, be sure to use a knife around edges to separate cake from pan.
This recipe is a winner. It’s moist, fresh, and has such a great, simple flavor from the strawberries. It’s also super easy to make. I will say that I had my apprehensions when I considered making this recipe, but only based on who the recipe came from. Ok, bear with me for a minute….Have you noticed all of the cooking and recipe ideas on social media; so many look tasty (haha – I can’t stop myself today, apparently). The recipes and tutorials look amazing, but so many of those recipes have been complete flops for me. This takes me back to the Payaso and my first Thanksgiving together in 2012. I found what I thought was going to be a delicious pie crust recipe from Giada De Laurentiis. The crust called for mascarpone cheese, and I was so confident that the pie crust would rival the famous crust of my beloved Aunt Sally, which I now know is impossible (hi, auntie!). I followed the recipe to the “t” and when I pulled those pie crusts out of the oven, all I had were blobs of what appeared to look like dismembered sugar cookies lining a pie plate. I took a bite, and sure enough, they tasted like sugar cookies, but pie crusts they were not. Giada had lied to me, to us, and to the world. The Payaso and I scrambled to get to the store late in the evening the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to use pre-made pie crusts (curse you, Giada!). To this date, whenever I see Giada on TV, I yell at the TV that her measurements aren’t right, and if she even utters the word mascarpone, I’ll pop off on her. The Payaso couldn’t believe I was giving Giada another opportunity in our sanctuary of a kitchen. Luckily, this recipe was far from a flop. I’m sure Giada is a lovely individual; I just think something must have been wrong with the measurements for that particular recipe.
Here’s what the eggs and sugar look like after getting mixed for about four minutes.
You can see how beautiful the cake is even before it gets baked. Here’s a look at how thick the batter is. You’ll need to use patience to spread the batter into the pan. Luckily, I have the Payaso to help me with those types of things that involve patience. Thank you, amor!
Make this cake. Make it now. Seriously, it’ll make your weekend super fabulous! I highly recommend this cake with some good ole vanilla ice cream.
